Carbs are bad. Meat is bad. Fat is bad. Some fat is good. Some carbs are good. Eat fewer calories. Eat smaller meals. Eat more frequent meals. Eat frequent smaller meals.
AAAAUUUUUGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
There are a lot of diet plans out there, and a many of them contradict each other. I’m going to go through some of the most popular plans, describe them, and then explain the pros and cons of them. So let’s get started.
LOW CALORIE DIETS
Slim Fast
The plan: Have a shake or a bar for breakfast and one for lunch, then eat a “sensible” dinner.
The good: This diet is one of the only ones proven to have long term success.
The bad: Drinking two meals a day can be hard to sustain. Also, this diet doesn’t teach a person how to eat. As soon as the diet is done, a person often goes right back to eating the way they did in the beginning.
Jenny Craig
The plan: Prepackaged meals. You eat these and you consume less calories.
The good: The ultimate goal is to help change lifestyle and eating habits of participants so that by the time they have reached their pre-chosen goal weight, they no longer need to rely on pre packaged food, pre-planned menus, or consultations to maintain a healthy lifestyle. If a person can learn this they will have a lifetime of health before them.
The bad: Expensive!
Weight Watchers
The plan: This plan has two options. The first option is the Points Plan where each food item has varying points, and they only get a certain number of points per day. The second option is the Core Plan where a person can eat any of the foods on the approved list from each major food category.
The good: This plan can teach a person to eat right for life.
The bad: People have a hard time “counting” and they also have a hard time eating only foods on the list.
LOW FAT DIETS
The Dean Ornish Diet
The plan: This vegetarian diet emphasizes low fat foods which includes legumes and other high-fiber foods.
The good: Americans eat way too much of the bad fats and not enough fruits and veggies – this diet tries to reverse that. This is really good.
The bad: Vegetarian diets are not my idea of a good eating plan (you can read my previous post). Also, vegetarian diets don’t last long for people who were not vegetarians.
There are other low fat diets, and they all say that a high fat diet causes major health problems like heart disease, stroke, and cancer. This is partially true. A big problem with low fat diets is that the good fats (which can lower your risk for these diseases) are avoided - this is just wrong!
LOW CARB DIETS
Atkins Diet
The plan: Severe restriction of all carbs in the early phases with the addition of good carbs later. Lots of protein, in all forms, is highly promoted.
The good: Gets rid of processed foods! The final stages are actually pretty healthy in my opinion.
The bad: This diet has got people thinking all carbohydrates are bad. They are not! Almost all fruits and vegetables are great for you. It is the processed carbs this diet warns against, but pop culture has missed that part. A big problem with this diet is that it is hard to make the switch from the first phase (high protein and fat and almost no carbs) to the final stage (good carbs and moderate protein and good fats). Also, it does not steer people away from saturated fats (the bad ones), in fact, Atkins tells people to eat the fat on the meat. Research shows that the weight lost on the Atkins diet is usually regained within a year.
The plan: Very similar to the Atkins Diet. The difference is that it promotes good fats over bad fats, and there is less restriction of good carbs.
The good: A much better, balanced approach to eating. If I were going to use an established diet plan, then this is the one I would use.
The bad: As with any diet plan, people see it as a transient thing. They get on it and lose some weight, and then they go back to how they were eating at the start. If a person could follow this plan for life, it wouldn’t be bad.
The Evolution Diet and the Paleolithic Diet are variations of the Atkins Diet.
OTHER DIET PLANS
Body-For-Life
The plan: 12-week diet and exercise program with increased protein, lower calories, and more frequent meals.
The good: Quick results in the mirror motivates people to stick with it.
The bad: Focuses on body image. High rebound weight gain.
Hallelujah Diet
The plan: Vegetarian, raw-food diet that is “biblically” based. Specifically targeted at the charismatic side of the church.
The good: Hmmm. This one is hard, but one good thing is that it promotes more fruits and veggies. Also, it promotes thinking positively about your health.
The bad: I disagree with the premise of the diet on theological grounds. I disagree with the diet on nutritional grounds. And I disagree on financial grounds, because the founder of this diet recommends taking his supplements which add up to over $2000 a year. Avoid this diet, please. Ask me if you want more info on it.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
There are many diet plans. Some are better, more nutritionally sound, than others. But a diet must do two things. It must help a person loose their excess weight, AND it must help a person to sustain a healthy weight for life. If you are going to choose a diet, stick with it until you get to you goal weight. More importantly though, find a way to maintain the weight you have lost.
What plan do I recommend? None of the above! I guess it would be a diet mutt – one part South Beach, one part Mayo Clinic philosophy, one part Mediterranean culture, and one part consisting of my own ideas – I’ll call it the Kit. Diet. For some reason though, that just doesn’t sound like a good title for a book. Maybe I should work on a more marketable name!
I'll post my philosophy on eating at another time.
4 comments:
I heard one guy just ate soup and cereal and that worked pretty good for a week!
I like what my friend (of course he is a Mayo MD) says:
"Eat what you want and die like a man."
I hear ya John. I think the answer is eat what you want, just not to much. Now, if I can only figure out how to do that!!!! Grandpa Huisman used to say, "If you want to loose weight, just push yourself away from the table". :)
Linda
Have you heard of the DASH diet.
Our doctor recommended it -
it's on-line.
An easier version of it is:
You can have anything you want -even a donut if you first eat NINE fruit and/or vegetable portions that day. Try it -you won't feel like eating a donut very much!
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